Cú Chulainn

Thread on the Russia-Israel-Syria affair, which has culminated in the downing of a Russian Il-20 on September 17th just off the coast of Latakia. 1. I will first start by saying that I have read, both intentionally and unintentionally, lots and lots of opinions about this.

2. The main bulk of these opinions recycle the usual blaming of Russia and offer suggestions for how things “should” have been done and “should” now be done. The consensus seems to be that it is Israel that is solely to blame, and it should thus be severely punished.

3. However, even though Russia was lambasted by social media “experts” for the fact that the state of Israel still existed on September 18th, the criticism of Moscow’s policy vis-a-vis Israel’s general airstrikes in Syria has been unwavering.

4. Examples of the criticism are: ~ “Russia doesn’t defend Syrian troops against Israeli airstrikes”; ~ “Putin doesn’t verbally threaten Bibi with retaliation should he strike again”; ~“Russia doesn’t give Syria the S1/2/3/4/500”; etc...

5. So, let's outline, once again, what Russia’s policy vis-a-vis Israel is in Syria. Q) Does Israel violate Syrian airspace? A) No. Q) Has Israel directly killed Russian troops? A) No. Q) Does Israel put Hmeymim in any direct danger? A) No. These answers are important. Why?

6. Q+A 1) Israel violates LEBANESE airspace, and we all know that the government in Beirut is very friendly with Riyadh. So in reality, these violations are not really violations, since Lebanon is not going to down an Israeli jet. Hence Tel Aviv’s impudence in Lebanese skies.

7. I seem to recall that in February the IDF decided to test the SAA’s air defences and came as close as they would like to violating Syrian airspace. The result? Two F-16’s were downed after dozens of S-200 missiles were fired at them.